Method and apparatus for disposal of waste employing rail and off-road equipment



May 6, 1969 v 3,442,404 LOYIN G R. J. PIOCH FOR DISPOSAL OF WASTE EMP RAIL AND OFF-ROAD EQUIPMENT v.

METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed Aprii 27, 1967 Sheet JJ INVENTOR.

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3,442,404 MPLOYING I R. J. PIOCH May 6,1969

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPOSAL OF WASTE E RAIL AND OFF-ROAD EQUIPMENT Sheet 3 of 5 Filed April 27, 1967 XOZWXJTBE$ z 3,442,404 LOYING R. J. PIOCH May 6, 1969 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPOSAL OF WASTE EMF RAIL AND OFF-ROAD EQUIPMENT Filed April 27, 1967 Sheet mm A r c z 0 z 3,442,404 ING EMPLOY y 6, 1969 R. J. PIOCH METHOD AND APPARATUS" FOR DISPOSAL OF WASTE RAIL AND OFF'ROAD EQUIPMENT Filed April '37 1967 INVENTOR.

Sheet .6-

fiajer/ BY JF/VJYST United States Patent 3,442,404 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPOSAL OF WASTE EMPLOYING RAIL AND OFF-ROAD EQUIPMENT Robert J. Pioch, Jackson, Mich., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Kysor Industrial Corporation, Cadillac, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Apr. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 634,283 Int. Cl. B65g 67/32; B61d 9/00; B60p 1/04 US. Cl. 21438 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Railroad freight cars of the so-called Flexi-Van type are used to transport special reinforced removable vantype bodies which are rotatable about a vertical axis on the rail car, so that an end of the Van is accessible from a position beside the track. The rail car has a rotatable and elevatable turntable for supporting each van body. An end of the van has a port through which material may be injected and subjected to pressure from a position beside the track when the van body is turned to an angular position relative to the rail car. An injection-compaction unit is fixedly installed at a predetermined position beside the trackway, at an angle thereto, for coupling to each van when so turned. A train of cars containing empty vans is first spotted approximately, by locomotive, so that a first (or last) van on the train is near a desired injectioncompaction unit. The van is aligned with the injectioncompaction unit by moving the car along the track by means of a winch attached to the platform, and by turning, and adjusting the height of, the turntable. A final alignment and coupling of the van to the injection-compaction unit is efiected by grappling means on the injection-compaction unit, constructed so as to partially pull the van off the turntable.

The van is then loaded and the load placed under compaction by the injection-compaction unit, which has a ram working through a hopper-fed charging chamber and into the van through the charging port.

When the van is fully loaded, the ram is used to apply a closure to the ramming port. The grappling means is then released and the ram is employed to push the van back onto the turntable to a fully installed and locked position. The van is then turned to a position parallel to the car and locked to the rail car for transportation to a dump site.

The same apparatus and procedure are used to successively load a plurality of vans on a train of cars, from beside the track, without removing the vans or separating the rail cars from one another.

At an unloading station located near a dump site, each van is again partially rotated so as to extend transversely, and is then pulled from the opposite side of its rail car by a special trailer having a lift frame located at a predetermined height corresponding to that of the turntable when the turntable is partially raised. The trailer is provided with an endless conveyor-type actuator engageable with abutments on the bottom of the van to pull the van off the turntable onto the tilt frame of the trailer. The van is locked to the tilt frame, hauled to the final dump site, and the tilt frame is raised by a multiple hydraulic cylinder system to dump the contents from the van. Two hydraulic cylinder systems act on the lift frame, one near the forward end, remote from the pivot, and the other closer to the pivot point. The trailer has a load carrying bogie which engages the ground and means whereby the bogie is longitudinally movable relative to the trailer frame. The bogie is connected to the lift frame by linkage in such manner that as the lift frame is raised, the bogie is moved toward the rear of the frame at a rate which keeps the bogie ice,

from moving too far from the center of gravity of the load Brief summary of the invention The object of the present invention is to provide improved means whereby large quantities of waste material such as industrial and household waste, including garbage, can be handled in a highly etficient and economical manner, rapidly loaded into connected railroad cars, hauled to a remote dumpsite by rail, and rapidly unloaded, dumped and returned for reloading, with a minimum expenditure of time and labor.

Disposal of waste by dumping rather than by incineration is gaining increasing preference, not only because of problems of air pollution, but because the material is useful as land fill, and such preference has increased as more economical methods of handling and conveying the material are developed. Apparatus for increasing the efficiency of handling of such waste materials, involving means for quickly loading large reinforced containers under relatively high compaction pressures, are disclosed in my US. Patents 3,250,414, 3,280,997 and 3,289,572, and in copending applications Ser. No. 55 8,988, filed I one 20, 1966, Ser. No. 575,719, filed Aug. 29, 1966, now Patent No. 3,387,878 and Ser. No. 588,198, filed Oct. 20, 1966. Such mechanisms have gone into large scale usage in connection with road vehicles. The containers for on-the-road haulage into which the load is rammed are constructed as large, removable, reinforced van-type trailer bodies, adapted to be hauled to .a dumpsite by a tractor truck and semi-trailer. In such operations, utilizing road vehicles, the end of the body or container is readily accessible for loading. It has been proposed heretofore that railway equipment be employed for analogous service, but up until the present time this has not found general acceptance due to a number of difficulties.

For large scale operations involving trains of cars, access to the ends of the cars for loading in the usual manner involves disproportionate time and labor. In [addition, if the designer takes advantage of the ability of railways to handle larger and heavier equipment, the handling and dumping of such equipment at the dumpsite introduces further problems because of the fact that to attain efiiciency and avoid constant rail laying it is necessary to haul the vans away from the rails at the unloading station to a dumpsite which constantly changes in its position, this part of the operation requiring off-road equipment, in most instances. The overall objective of the present invention, therefore, may be stated as comprising a method and means for overcoming the problems involved in connection with such railroad operations and the provision of a highly efiicient technique and apparatus, economical both in first cost and in operation, for loading high capacity rail equipment with pressurized loads and for handling the same and the container van bodies at an unloading station and dumpsite.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon consideration of the present disclosure in its entirety.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevational view of a rail car with two container van bodies thereon in the positions they occupy during loading, fragmentarily showing adjacent cars of a train;

FIGURE 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of 3 such rail car and a trackway and adjacent loading station also showing the container vans in loading position;

FIGURE 3 is a side view of :a portion of a rail car train, with van bodies thereon turned to the rail transport position;

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic sectional view taken substantially on the line IV--1V of FIGURE 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of the rail car and trackway at an unloading station, with unloading and conveying means for removal of a loaded container van prior to transportation to the final dumpsite;

FIGURE 6 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevational view of the semi-trailer means employed for a removal and replacement of the vans at the unloading station, conveying the same to and from the dumpsite, and dumping the contents, showing a van thereon in transporting position;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 but showing the body partially raised at the dumpsite;

FIGURE 8 is a similar view showing the body fully raised, and

FIGURE 9 is a cross section taken substantially on the line IXIX of FIGURE 6 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawing, reference character 10 designates the tracks of a railway, these being shown in FIGURE 2 extending beside a loading station defined by a dock structure 12. The loading station is located conveniently to a large source of waste material such as a city or large industrial complex so the material can be delivered thereto by motor trucks. Various types of waste materials may be received at the loading dock without segregation, from compactor-type garbage trucks, trash pickup trucks and other types of waste haulage equipment, and which may include both loose waste and compacted waste.

Dock 12 has an elevated horizontal platform 14 onto which trucks may be driven to be unloaded. A large injection-compaction unit 15, preferably of the type disclosed in my Patents 3,250,414 and 3,289,572, is installed beneath the deck 14, and has a loading hopper 16 opening through the deck so that the contents of trucks can be dumped directly thereinto, or pushed thereinto by bulldozers if dumped on the deck. A rail car 18 is shown on the trackway and may be of a type adapted to carry two enclosed van-type container bodies, each body being approximately centered over an elevatable and rotatable turntable 20, 21. -In FIGURE '3, and in dotted lines in FIGURE 2, the van bodies, designated 24 and 25, are shown in the positioning in which they are held and locked during rail transport, longitudinally aligned with the rail car.

It will be noted that the preferred installation shown incorporates two injection-compaction units, enabling simultaneous loading of both vans of a dual van car, but since these units may be identical, description of one will sufiice. It will also be noted that with my preferred arrangement it is not necessary to turn the vans to a position perpendicular to the trackway, so that minimum space is required beside the tracks, although obviously the system could be arranged to operate with the vans swung to other or different angles, including the perpendicular position, if desired.

The turntables -21 of the rail car 18, and associated rail car parts for supporting and securing the van bodies, may be constructed in accordance with Mellam Patent 2,933,053, or one of the known commercial designs of such general character, the car shown in the present disclosure being adapted to accommodate two vans rather than the single van shown in such Mellam patent. Each turntable is provided with rails adapted to slidably interengage with the bottom frame rails 32 of standardized vans. The construction of such interengagebale parts and fastening means therefor may conform to the disclosure of Mellam Patent 2,933,052, or one of the known commercial constructions of similar nature. The turntables 20, 21 are preferably also vertically movable, as by hydraulic cylinder-type lift means diagrammatically indicated at 33. Individual controls are provided for the hydraulic lifts, so that the turntables may be individually raised to any desired elevation within their limits, and the turntables are rotatable while raised.

The hydraulic lift means is adapted to be coupled to and powered by either the hydraulic system of the injection-compaction unit, or the hydraulic system of a tractor truck, bulldozer, or other equipment which is connectible thereto at an accessible coupling as 35 conveniently located on the side of the car. Preferably, duplicate quick-connection type hydraulic fittings corresponding to the coupling connection 35 are provided on both sides of the rail car, so that the action of the turntable can be powered and controlled from either side.

Each of the containers as 24 and 25 is constructed similarly to the container bodies disclosed in the aforementioned Patent 3,250,414, but may, of course, be larger and more heavily constructed for rail operation than is generally practicable for over the road equipment. Such containers are wider at the back than at the front, with uniformly gradually tapering side walls, and each is equipped with a full width door at the rear end, a ramming port 42 in the rear door being adapted to register with the ram and with the outlet opening of the injection-compaction unit 15. The vans are positioned upon the rail cars facing in a common direction, the wider ends of the vans being toward the right, as viewed in FIG- URE 2, and the injection-compaction units are installed at a transverse angle with respect to and close to the trackway, as for example at an angle of about 30, as shown in FIGURE 2. The injection-compaction units are positioned at a height such that when the turntable is partially raised, the van loading port can be properly horizontally aligned with the outlet of the injection-compaction unit. It will be appreciated that with many rail car constructions of the general class under consideration, and which are frequently marketed under the designation Flexi-Van the turntable must be partially raised in order to permit the van to be swung. The ability to vary the elevation of the turntable enables proper horizontal alignment despite any differences in spring deflection or the dimensions of the cars and associated parts.

A car to be loaded is first positioned in the approximate location desired, by means of the locomotive, but

- slightly to the left of the desired final position shown in FIGURE 2. A winch 45 fixed to the dock structure has a cable 46 which is detachably connectible to a fitting 48 secured to the side of the car, and is then employed to align the van with the injection-compaction unit. The van is then swung outwardly counterclockwise to an angle conforming to that of the injection-compaction unit.

On the side of the compaction chamber of the unit 15 farther from the trackway, a grappling assembly is provided which is also adapted to serve as a stop for limiting the extent of swinging movement of the van. The grappling hook portion 50 is slidable in a direction generally parallel to the axis 51 of ram travel, and also limitedly rockable toward and from such axis, outward movement of hook portion 50 being restricted by a fixed post 52. The rearwardly hooked terminal portion 54 of hook element 50 is overengageable with a forwardly hooked corner abutment 55 on the van. A similar forwardly hooked abutment 56 is provided on the other rear corner of the van which is similarly overengageable by the hook portion 64 of a grappling hook 60. Grappling hook assembly 60 is operable by means of a turnbuckle 62 and the entire assembly 60 is pivoted upon a vertical axis indicated at 64 in such manner that such grappling assembly can be swung entirely out of the way, in a direction indicated by the arrow 65 and as shown in dotted lines, to permit the van to be swung into operative position in. engage,

ment with grappling hook 50. Grappling hook 50 is actuatable by a hydraulic cylinder 58 connected thereto through a toggle lever 59. When the piston of the hydraulic cylinder 58 is projected, hook portion 54 is moved forwardly and is overengageable with corner abutment 55 when the van is several inches farther from the injection-compaction unit than the intended final position. By powering the piston of cylinder 58 inwardly, the book 54 is effective to draw the van body toward the injectioncompaction unit. Hook portion 64 is also operable to draw the opposite corner abutment 56 toward the unit, and may be actuated in any suitable manner as by the manual actuating handles 66. As the hook portions 54, 64 are drawn toward the rear, the van, which is preliminarily unlocked from the turntable, slides relatively to the turntable along the axis 51 toward the injection-compaction unit.

In order to facilitate handling and reduce the stressing of the parts, the vans and their rail car locking means may be so arranged that during rail transport the vans are carried with the center of gravity slightly to the left of the vertical axis of rotation of the turntable so that when the van is pulled toward the right to the final coupled position, its center of gravity will be approximately over the turntable axis.

After the van is coupled to the injection-compaction unit 15 in the manner described, such unit is then operated in a manner similar to the units disclosed in my aforementioned patents to load and compact the contents in the van. When the van is fully loaded and the contents are compacted to the designed limit imposed by the unit, the ram 70 is retracted and is then employed to apply closure means to the ramming port to prevent re-expansion and escape of the contents, in the manner disclosed in Patent 3,250,414. Thereafter, the grappling hooks 50, 60 are disengaged, and the ram is employed as a pusher to push the van back to locked position on the turntable, and then retracted, whereafter the van is swung back to the full line position and locked in alignment with the rail car ready for rail transportation;

At the rail destination (which is presumably at or near an area where a land fill is desired or disposal is permissible) an unloading station is provided in the form of a platform 75 located adjacent a track portion to which the loaded rail-van cars are hauled. The unloading platform is shown as located upon the opposite side of the cars from the loading station 12, since the vans are pulled from the cars by the end opposite the loading end. Thus the vans can be rotated in the same angular direction at the unloading station as at the loading station in order to make the opposite end of the van accessible, but whichever side the unloading platform is on, the van is so swung as to give access to its other (forward) end. The platform 75 at the unloading station is also at a fixed height with relation to the standardized cars.

I preferably provide a specially constructed tnansport vehicle to remove the vans, haul them to the dumpsite, discharge their contents, and return and reinstall them upon the rail cars. Inasmuch as off-road operations are usually required during these phases of the operation, a high flotation, high stability system is employed. The traction unit may be a standard commercially available type of track laying bulldozer 77, provided with a hitch 78 for hauling a special semi-trailer 80 which also has a high flotation suspension which may be of the track type and incorporated in a bogie structure 82, although it will be recognized that in many instances high flotation pneumatic tires could be employed.

Semi-trailer 80 has a fixed frame 84 and a lift frame 85 pivoted on a transverse axis at the rear of the main frame 84 on trunnion pivot pins 86.

Extending longitudinally in a central position and supported in the tilt frame 85 is an endless chain type conveyor assembly generally designated 88. The endless chain 90 thereof is trained over coplanar sprocket wheels 92, 93 journaled on transverse axes, sprocket wheel 93 being near the rear and sprocket wheel 92 spaced forwardly a suitable distance which in the construction shown is approximately 8 feet. The chain is provided with lugs 94 projectible between abutments formed by cross bars 95 on the bottom of the van, and means are provided for selectively powering the chain in either direction. Such means may comprise a hydraulic motor driven from the hydraulic system of the tractor or bulldozer. The designed height of the tilt frame 85 of the semi-trailer is such that the turntables of the standardized rail cars when partially raised are horizontally alignable therewith. It will be seen that in order to remove the vans from the rail car it is only necessary to position the trailer in substantial longitudinal alignment with the previously turned van, as shown in FIGURE 4, and back the semi-trailer under the van sufliciently to interengage at least one of the lugs 94 behind one of the cross rods 95. Such interengagement is easily effected by slightly overraising the turntable and then lowering it until the cross bars 95 engage the chain. Forwarding powering of the upper reach of the chain will then cause the van to slide forwardly off the turntable and onto the tilt frame. Rollers 97, 98 are provided on the tilt frame 85 and main frame 84 to facilitate rolling the van onto the semi-trailer. Its fully loaded position on the semi-trailer is reached when locking parts generally designated 99, on and near the front of the tilt frame, interengage with locking abutment portions on the van frame 32 to lock the van to the tilt frame.

When the van is locked in position on the semi-trailer, it is conveyed by tractor means such as the bulldozer 77 to a dumpsite where it is dumped by raising the van, with the rear door open, to permit the contents to discharge under gravity. Near the front of the frame 84 the semitrailer is provided with a hydraulic telescopic lift cylinder assembly 100 having an extensible piston rod 101 engageable beneath a downwardly facing abutment 102 secured to the front of the van. Rod 101 is not coupled to abutment 102, however, and engages the same during only a portion of the lifting of the van and the tilt frame.

A second telescopic lift cylinder assembly 105, located farther to the rear near the bogie 82, is articulated at one end by pivot 106 to trailer frame 84, while the outer end of its piston rod is articulated at pivot 108 to the lift frame 85. When the van and tilt frame are in the lowered position, cylinder and piston assembly 100, 101 is approximately vertical and applies its power efficiently to abutment 102 to lift the front of the van and thereby the attached lift frame 85, but at the lowered position cylinder assembly lies substantially horizontal so that its lifting power is not efliciently applied at such time. As the parts are raised by the front cylinder 100, however, cylinder assembly 105 assumes an intermediate position in which it is more nearly perpendicular to the lift frame, as indicated in FIGURE 7, whereafter, and as it continues its extension toward the fully raised position of FIGURE 8, the power of the rear cylinder 105 is efliciently applied to complete the raising of the van.

The center of gravity of the van, indicated approximately at 110, is over the bogie when the van is in the lowered position (FIGURE 6) so that the load is eifectively transmitted to the ground rather than to the tractor. As the van is raised for dumping, the center of gravity moves toward the rear, and depending upon the nature of the load and how readily it slides from the van, the weight may not substantially decrease until the van reaches a high angle. In order to prevent the center of gravity from moving to a position so far to the rear of the bogie as to apply an excessive load to the tractor hitch, means is provided for pulling the bogie along the trailer frame as the van is lifted.

A linkage assembly .115 is articulated at 116 at its forward end to the bogie upon a transverse axis, and at its rear end is similarly articulated at 11-8 to the tilt frame at a position spaced from the tilting axis 86 so that the bogie assembly, which is slidably mounted upon the trailer frame 84, is pulled to the rear, thereby maintaining the bogie in a position substantially beneath the center of gravity. As shown in FIGURE 9, the bogie frame 120 is slidably attached to the main frame 84 as by rollers 122 and brackets 123. The bogie wheels (or track) are not powered and roll freely as the bogie is pulled to the rear in the described manner and similarly roll forwardly under thrust transmitted in compression through the link assembly 115 as the van and tilt frame are lowered. The details of the bogie and suspension are of course matters of engineering design and subject to factors such as anticipated service conditions and cost, and the movement of the bogie along the trailer frame could of course be separately powered as by a hydraulic cylinder assembly or other suitable motor means.

After discharge of load at the dumpsite in the indicated manr and relowering of the van on the trailer to the position of FIGURE 6, the van is returned to and reinstalled upon the rail car by reversing the previously described operations, including realigning the trailer with the turntable 21, powering the upper run of the conveyor chain 90 toward the rear to slide the van into position on the turntable, locking the van to the turntable, and then straightening and locking the van and turntable relatively to the rail car for return to the loading station.

At the loading station the components, including the elevating turntables on the rail cars, may be powered from the hydraulic system of the injection-compaction system, while at the unloading station and dumpsite such power is available from the hydraulic system of the bulldozer or tractor.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a railroad trackway and a dock structure adjacent one side of the same, means for loading rail cars and pressurizing cargo therein comprising a cargo injection-compaction unit fixed relatively to the dock structure and having a ram traveling in a path transverse to the trackway, said unit being positioned at an elevation corresponding to the height of a ramming port in a van located on a rotatable turntable of a van-carrying rail car, means for securing the unit to such a van while the van is on the rail car in a rotated position of nonalignment with the rail car and trackway and in alignment with the path of the ram.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1 wherein the turntable is also an elevator and the elevation of the injection-compaction unit corresponds to a height above the lowermost position of the elevator.

3. In combination with means as defined in claim 1, means fixed relatively to the dock structure for moving the car along the trackway relatively to the injection-compaction unit.

4. A combination as defined in claim :1 wherein the turntable is also an elevator and the elevation of the injection-compaction unit corresponds to a height above the lowermost position of the elevator, and means fixed relatively to the dock structure for moving the car along the trackway relatively to the injection-compaction unit.

5. The method of loading cargo into van bodies on railway cars which comprises turning a van body about a vertical axis to a transverse position disaligned with the car but aligned with an injection-compaction unit and so that one end of the van body projects to the side while the weight of the body remains on the car, ramming cargo into the body through such projecting end, closing said end, realigning the van body with the car, and moving the car to bring another van into alignable relation to said unit.

6. A method as defined in claim 5 including as a further step moving the van vertically on the car for horizontal alignment with respect to said unit.

7. The method of loading and conveying cargo to a desired destination by means of a van body on a rail car which comprises turning the van body about a vertical axis to a transverse position disaligned with the car but aligned with an injection-compaction unit and so that one end of the van body projects to one side of the car while the weight of the body remains on the car forcing cargo into the body through said end by means of the injectioncompaction unit, closing said end, realigning the van body with the car, hauling the car to a desired destination, turning the van body about said vertical axis to cause the opposite end of such body to project accessibly to the side of the car, and pulling said body off the car from said opposite end and onto the rear of a tilt-dump type conveyance for delivery to and dumping at a desired site.

8. A method as defined in claim 7 wherein the van is also moved vertically on the car to align the van with said tilt-dump conveyance.

'9. A method as defined in claim 5 including the further steps of pulling the van body along the line of said alignment to a displaced ramming position and grappling the van body in said ramming position to the injection-compaction unit prior to ramming the cargo into the van body therewith, and after such ramming ungrappling the van body and pushing it back along said line to an emplaced position before realigning the van body with the car.

10. A method as defined in claim 9 wherein the means for grappling the van body to the injection-compaction unit also pulls the van body to the displaced ramming position.

11. A method as defined in claim 9 wherein the body is pushed back to the emplaced position by the injectioncompaction unit.

12. A method as defined in claim 9 wherein the means for grappling the van body to the injection-compaction unit also pulls the van body to the displaced ramming position, and the body is pushed back to the emplaced position by the injection-compaction unit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,013,675 12/1961 Schonrock 214-4l 3,059,789 10/1962 Bowles 214-41 ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X. R. 

